Both Denver and Colorado Springs have a high percentage of women-owned businesses, with Colorado Springs having the nation's highest share and Denver having the fifth-highest percentage of such businesses.

That's according to a new WalletHub report that analyzed the U.S.'s 100 largest metros and ranked them as the best places for women-owned businesses.

And while both cities rank high for the percentage of businesses owned by women, neither comes close to the top of the list of the best places for businesses owned by business.

The Washington, D.C.-based financial analyst site ranked cities as friendly for women-owned businesses based on three criteria:

Overall new-business friendliness, including metrics like financing and resource accessibility, cost of living and corporate taxes, entrepreneurial activity and number of small businesses per capita.

Female entrepreneurship rank, including the percentage of women-owned businesses, average percentage growth of women-owned businesses, industry variety and presence of women's business centers.

Business climate for women, including cost of child care, professional opportunities for women, parental policies, as well as pay, average work hours, unemployment rates and percentage of female lawmakers.

Colorado Springs ranks No. 38 overall among the best places for women-owned business: 33rd for overall new-business friendliness, 62nd for female entrepreneurship rank and 35th for business climate for women.

Denver is No. 57: 61st for overall new-business friendliness, 35th for business climate for women, and ninth for its female entrepreneurship rank.

Women who own businesses live more comfortably than those who don't. According to a national study conducted by The Business Journals last September, female business owners have higher income and wealth than those climbing the corporate ladder. 

One associate professor of entrepreneurship and co-founder and faculty director of the Center for Innovation & Entrepreneurship at California Polytechnic State University, said women achieve a lot of success in the medical field, branding and marketing and even construction technology. But, they tend to struggle at first because they are more prone to second-guessing themselves. This characteristic actually serves women very well in much of business, but since there is so much uncertainty and ambiguity in an entrepreneurial setting, this can be seen as a lack of confidence.

Luckily more women are taking on mentorship roles to help build women build the confidence needed to make a startup succeed.

Also, we are seeing more focus in the media about women entrepreneurs, and that helps build confidence too.

The top 10 best metros overall for women-owned businesses are:

Nashville-Davidson-Murfreesboro-Franklin, Tennessee.

Chattanooga, Tennessee/Georgia.

Columbus, Ohio.

Memphis, Tennessee/Mississippi/Arkansas

Milwaukee-Waukesha-West Allis, Wisconsin.

Rochester, New York.

Kansas City, Missouri/Kansas.

Spokane-Spokane Valley, Washington.

Greensboro-High Point, North Carolina.

Honolulu, Hawaii.

Entrepreneurship was once an opportunity accessible only to men. Save for a handful of audacious women who defied such strict gender codes, most females historically failed to break through the barriers of the male-dominated business space. But we live in the 21st century now, an era in which women are a powerful force in society, especially in our economy.

Today, it is not only common for women to be entrepreneurs, but it also means being part of an influential group. According to an American Express OPEN-commissioned report, more than 9.4 million women-owned businesses currently operate in the U.S. Combined, those firms account for nearly a third of all privately held companies, pull in annual revenues to the tune of $1.5 trillion and provide jobs to roughly eight million workers. What’s more, they’re among the fastest-growing enterprises in the nation — increasing at a rate 1.5 times the U.S. average and topping “the growth rates of all but the largest, publicly-traded firms” in the past 18 years.

If you’re aiming to become the next Madam C.J. Walker or Jessica Alba, two women known for their epic entrepreneurial achievements, you might want to carefully consider where to plant the seeds of your future empire. Location plays a key role in the success of any business but an even bigger one for women-owned firms. That’s because some areas are better than others at encouraging female entrepreneurship and recognizing its value.

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